i have done calorie counting before (it didnt last very long) but whilst i was doing it i had a good weight loss. i have been doing slimfast for abit but have my exams at the moment and just cant face dieting as well. so i am looking for the next (and final) diet to do once ive finished - 2 weeks on monday (although may have afew days celebrating before i start properly on my diet!)

i have a holiday at the end of july so i should have around 6 weeks to lose some weight. i am not overweight, i just want to tone up for the summer. im not sure how much i would need to lose. im only 5 ft tall and would like to get my bmi down to about 20, and preferably get my body fat down to 25% to begin with. i still want to be in the 'healthy' ranges, but because i am so small i will look and feel better if im at the bottom end of the scale. i like wearing high fashion clothes so it also helps if you are thinner! my main goal would be to be very fit and run a marathon - im thinking of doing a half marathon in october - so i will be doing lots of exercise to help speed up my weight loss. not really sure about how many cals i will be having a day - i guess around 1200. normally this would be cereal for brekkie (around 200), a soup for lunch (around 200) a 500 cal dinner (mainly salad or stirfry - no carbs) and some fresh fruit to snack on during the day. if im not seeing results i may drop that but i would prefer it to remain abit higher. i will aim for one cardio and one resistance work out each day, with lots of walking and maybe a pilates session too.

so im going to be giving it alot of thought whilst im doing my exams and then hopefully il be very geared up when i start and will have the motivation to diet for a whole six weeks (the longest ive ever lasted properly is 2!) so see u soon! xx

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Counting Calories - 1500 a day, OK I know this is going to take years but that's fine.

Welcome to the calorie forum I'm convinced this is the only realistic long term solution to weight control. It does take a little effort to calculate things and write it all down but I know it will work. There's lots of friendly people here to support you too.

I agree Alicia...I think it must be very difficult to maintain a lower weight after having been on a meal replacement regime or similar and you would have to resort to calorie counting then anyway...I think CC sets in motion a method of eating and thinking about food that can be used to lose weight and developed to maintain a consistent weight for the future.

Good luck in your exams darling09 and with CC if you decide to use it...your thoughts so far sound very sensible

thanks alicia and carefulcounter, nice to see everyone is friendly on this part of the forum!

slimfast is ok if you dont really know how much you should be having a day or if you cant be trusted to make the right choices, but i think i know enough to make the right decisions. i do pig out everynow and again, and i also use food to make me feel happy, so im not saying i have a perfectly healthy attitude towards food, but i know what is good or bad, i know portion sizes, and i know what works best for me, so i think calorie counting is the way to go. i think most of it is just being sensible with food.

one thing i was concerned about is if i get to the end of the day and realise i have some calories left then i will be tempted to eat high fat foods as i will feel its 'allowed' if its within my calorie limit. so im also incorporating a healthy eating idea into my diet. we only get one body each and i want mine to function at its best so am going to be feeding it with good fuel! so, just until i go on holiday anyway, im going to stick with sensible options and stay away from processed food. i read somewhere that if it doesnt grow, walk or swim then you shouldnt eat it, and im thinking that probably makes alot of sense!

one thing i was concerned about is if i get to the end of the day and realise i have some calories left then i will be tempted to eat high fat foods as i will feel its 'allowed' if its within my calorie limit.

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I'm Guilty . If I've got 100cals left at the end of the day I'll walk to the local shop for a finger of fudge. Or I'll have a carefully measured 100cals of wine.

one thing i was concerned about is if i get to the end of the day and realise i have some calories left then i will be tempted to eat high fat foods as i will feel its 'allowed' if its within my calorie limit. ... i read somewhere that if it doesnt grow, walk or swim then you shouldnt eat it, and im thinking that probably makes alot of sense!

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Well don't feel too bad if you use up those left over cals on a treat...you will still be under the amount you have set for yourself and probably feel better for the little boost! Also I feel like if I've 'saved' a few cals through the week I am safer fighting the temptations of the weekend!!

I like the grow, walk, swim idea... never thought of it like that but, as you say, we only get one body, we should treat it with care... not that saying that means I'll refuse the occasional choccie bar or chinese meal!!

How is the revision going? I graduated from uni last summer and all my wistful thinking about it has gone in the window now it is exam season for various friends etc! I don't miss that bit!!

if im in desparate need of a treat them im not going to feel guilty for having one, because nothing is necessarily bad for you if eaten in moderation, i just havnt got that long to get the body im after so will have to be 100% good!!

revision is ... well... its ok, but i just seriously lack motivation! the thing is i dont actually need a degree for the career that i want to go into, so i just havnt got the motivation behind me to want to do well! ive always said that if u want something really badly then you'll get it, and i just dont want it enough, if you get what i mean? ive already had two exams, the first was AWFUL and i dont know whether ive done well enough to pass or not. the second was abit better but i dont think ive dont particularly well. ive got another on monday so will be revising for that over the weekend. im just getting abit tired of it now and cant wait for it to be over so i can go out and celebrate with my friends because i havnt seen them for ages!

and also, i just cant be bothered to eat properly whilst im doing my exams - i havnt made myself a proper lunch in weeks - so have been living off cereal or nutella or fast food, and last night's dinner was a packet of chocolate digestives! not very healthy at all!! (but very tasty!) lol!

Counting Calories - 1500 a day, OK I know this is going to take years but that's fine.

You will perform better in your exams if you eat properly. My 15 year old son didn't believe me and agreed to take part in a little experiment. He played one of his racing games (after a chocolate breakfast) and noted the score - then ate a healthy lunch and tried again - the improvement was over 20%. He's convinced. When you need your brain to work well try Marmite on toast.

Welcome to the calorie forum I'm convinced this is the only realistic long term solution to weight control. It does take a little effort to calculate things and write it all down but I know it will work. There's lots of friendly people here to support you too.

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Yes I have to agree, having done VLCD's and meal supplements this is the only long term solution because it's about real food , this or weight watchers.

Because failure is the worst feeling..Eat sensible and eat only your calories..

well after afew more days of eating crap, and having a very bad start to the week (i failed an exam yesterday so will have to resit in the summer which means revising whilst on holiday!) i have decided to start being a bit better with my diet.

im not on a 'diet' per se at the moment, nor am i actually counting the calories i am consuming as i wont be starting properly until after my exams. but what i am doing, is being aware of what im eating, trying to make sensible choices, not depriving myself of something (so that i dont end up binging on it later on!) and generally trying to be abit more healthy. il do this until the end of my exams and then will be calorie counting with vigour until my holiday!

today i have had a bowl of special k oats and honey, with skimmed milk, some sushi (245 cals) and two cups of tea (need the caffine for revision - well thats the excuse anyway!). having fish and asparagus later i think with some new potatoes, and may have a cuppasoup if i get hungry as i dont usually eat dinner until 7pm. how does that sound? not necessarily for losing weight, but just for maintenance/healthy reasons?

Counting Calories - 1500 a day, OK I know this is going to take years but that's fine.

That sounds like a good way to start. Just writing it down has been shown to lead to weight loss - well, not the actual writing it down so much as the awareness it creates about what's in food. I started by just writing things down without trying to cut back - and was horrified to find there was nearly 500 cals in a nan bread. You get to learn a lot of key cals in this way.

apparently, with a sedentry life style i should be having 1611 cals a day, so to lose weight im going to be having 1200 a day and do some sort of exercise each day too - should be losing a pound or two a week on that.

i go on holiday in just over 8 weeks - so am hoping to make quite abit of difference by then. not particularly bothered about how much i weigh because im in the healthy weight range so will be concentrating on how i look, feel, and the body fat indicator on my scales - will weigh in tomorrow to see what i am currently. hoping to turn some of that fat into muscle and generally tone up!

will be posting my weekly weight loss and body fat percentage on here, as well as my daily diary if i have time.

i wont be cutting out any entire food groups - just lots less chocolate, fizzy pop, sugar and processed foods.

well i weighed in today - 8 st 2.25 lbs (i know this doesnt sound alot but remember im only 5ft tall!) thats a bmi of 22.4 (again this is also fine too) and a body fat percentage of 29.3%. After having done some research on the internet, whilst this is ok, it is quite... 'wobbly' lol!

Although i have read various accounts of what body fat pecentage is ideal, a website called netfit says that for a female, athletic would be <13%, optimal is 13 - 20%, boarderline is 21-25%, overweight is 26-32% and obese is >32. (age is also taken into consideration in most of the charts on the web - the older you are, the more body fat you can have and still be in the healthy weight range)

so, seeing as i am only 19, and im very small, my long term target will be to get to 20% body fat, although il be aiming for 27.5 to start with! my boyfriend and i have a bet on to see who can get a six pack first and ive also read somewhere that at 20% body fat you should start to have visible abs (and it would be very nice to win as the prize is a fancy meal out!)

however, just so people arent worried, id like to make it clear that i expect i will be replacing alot of my lost fat with muscle, meaning that i will still be within the healthy bmi range

so im aiming for a 1-2lb loss each week but after a while i expect this to level out when i start to gain muscle and lose fat.

well i have a confession, i didnt actually start my calorie counting until today

i started well on tuesday, but by the evening (after dinner) id had less than 700 cals - i was starving, and then nothing i ate could stop me feeling hungry it wasnt good. so i had yesterday off as well to clear my head and am back on it with a vengence now!

i know i need to kick my sugar habit but i think going cold turkey is just not an option for me - il be more likely to quit. so im starting off slowly reducing the amount of sugar i have - for example - i usually have 2 heaped spoonfuls of sugar with my tea. i am now having 2 level spoonfuls. in a couple of days i will reduce this to 1 heaped spoonful, when ive got used to this il reduce it to one level spoonful and maybe try and go for none at all (but il prop just stick with one)

today is 8 weeks til i go on holiday so i knew i had to start today as otherwise there wont be enough time for me to tone up.

still aiming for 1200 a day and after monday will be doing lots of exercise too (unless im really hungover on tuesday after my night out to celebrate end of exams lol!)

im finding it soooo hard to stick to my calories!! yesterday i should have had 1232, ended up having 1522!!! not good! its still below my maintenance cals i think but i wont be losing any weight on it! i wish i wasnt so short - if only i could grow an extra 3 inches or so i would look fine! lol!

i just feel hungry all the time, and i dont want to feel like im starving myself - so i eat - but im not going to lose weight if i do that! i dont know what to do, maybe i should go on a stricter diet where i only eat what im allowed - but then would i cheat?

i dont know - im starting my exercise regime on tuesday or wednesday, maybe that will help? or will it make me feel more hungry?

darling09 - looking at your menu for yesterday as guidance, I would suggest that you aren't spreading your cals out enough. If you don't eat enough early in the day you will get hungry. Remember that at breakfast you haven't eaten all night and that in the evening the food you eat is only used for sleeping...that is the way I consider it. So I would suggest increasing your breakfast a little with some fruit/a boiled egg/a yoghurt and making sure to include snacks throughout the morning and early afternoon. To show you what I mean...I eat around 300 cals for breakfast (cereal, skim milk - you could mix half skim with half semi if you dont like skim?? -, bit of melon, bit of cranberry juice - v low cal!), have an apple/pear/carrot or 2 in the morning about 11, then lunch of thick soup and an english muffin/carrot/cuc sticks/crackers, then an afternoon snack of a low cal cereal bar (ie 95-140 cals)/some nuts about 3 then I have about 400 cals left for dinner. Do you see how the food is more spread out?

I think if you deny yourself food and get too hungry then nothing will really satiate you and you will lose committment to weightloss and calorie counting.

Oh and maybe try sweetners in your tea? Or in one cup of your tea? That would leave you more leeway. I am so wary of cals in drinks as they don't fill you in any way and are such a waste.

I hope this might give you some ideas? Anacking seriously is the way forward - it stops me getting too hungry and binging (well binging coz I am hungry...the choc is still an issue!!)

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